Why Patriots Defender Ufomba Kamalu Still Could Have Undiscovered Potential

Patriots defensive end Ufomba Kamalu is at the beginning of his professional career. New England is his third stop. The defensive end spent some time with the Houston Texans and the Arizona Cardinals.

Ufomba Kamalu joined the Patriots as a player without a position. He was added to the practice squad for two weeks. Experts say he is actually a tweener. Kamalu is not fast enough to play on the edge, and does not have the strength he needs to line up inside.

Well, maybe there is still part of his potential that is still hidden somewhere. Was Kamalu paired with wrong squads? Maybe the Patriots are the right team to help him unleash all that hidden potential. The team signed Kamalu off the practice squad, and he was played over Derek Rivers and Keionta Davis.

Kamalu was born in California, but grew up in Nigeria. He played soccer and switched to football after his arrival in Fayetteville.

“I think other people learn bad habits growing up. I guess me starting in high school and college, I learned to play the right way,” he said.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said they are still trying to figure out how to use Kamalu, and it seems like they consider him as a defensive end who is able to kick inside on third down.

“It was more of working out everything,” Kamalu said. “This defense here is a very multiple defense. Sometimes the D-ends are 3-techniques, sometimes we’re (5-techniques). It’s been kind of exciting working at every position.”

“There’s different techniques and different ways to get the quarterback. When you’re in on third down and you’re at 3-technique, it’s a lot faster than being at the 5. It’s just different ways to play the game,” he added.

Let’s see what happens on Sunday.